Grammar revision

Ex.1. TRANSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES QUIZ.

1. ______________ of the weather, the football game will be played tomorrow.

a. therefore

b. as a result

c. regardless

d. in addition

e. since

2. I dropped my cell phone and it broke.  ____________, I need to either buy a new one or borrow yours.

a. in spite of

b. likewise

c. furthermore

d. therefore

e. otherwise

3. I can't help you with your homework because I am not very good at geometry.  __________, I know someone who can.

a. however

b. for example

c. in addition

d. subsequently

e. in the same way

4. ___________ it was raining, I still walked to school.

a. consequently

b. furthermore

c. accordingly

d. as a result

e. although

5. ______ of her good grades, Rebecca did not get accepted to Stanford.

a. in addition

b. in spite of

c. as a result

d. on the other hand

e. thereafter

6. Jeremy is very active and enjoys exercising; ______________, Chris sits on his couch all day playing video games.

a. similarly

b. for example

c. in addition

d. on the other hand

e. as a result

7. My sister is a very kind and generous person.  _____________, she helps me with my homework and drives me to basketball practice.

a. likewise

b. hence

c. additionally

d. as a result

e. for example

8. Which of the following prepositional phrases CAN NOT be used in the following sentence? Cathy is sick; ____________, she came to school today.

a. nevertheless

b. still

c. as a result

d. despite that

e. nonetheless

9. What type of punctuation always follows a transitional word or phrase?

a. period

b. colon

c. semicolon

d. comma

e. apostrophe

10. What type of punctuation is missing from the sentence below?

a. period (.)

b. colon (:)

c. semicolon (;)

d. comma (,)

e. quotation marks (" ")

Working on the article

Ireland ‘No’ vote plunges eu into crisis (from: www. Elsdiscussions.Com)

The people of Ireland have rejected the European Union’s reform treaty in a referendum and plunged the EU into crisis. The Irish delivered a Friday the 13th bad omen to European integration.

All 27 countries needed to agree to the Lisbon Treaty in order for it to come into force. Ireland represents less than one per cent of the EU population, but their ‘no’ vote meant it was back to the drawing board for the whole of the EU. The treaty was supposed to replace the constitution, give the EU stronger leadership and allow streamlining reforms to take place more quickly. It took many years to draw up and just a few hours to vote into the trash can of history. The ‘no’ vote also highlights how unpopular the EU is to its citizens. Three years ago, the French and Dutch voted to reject the EU constitution.

Other European countries are now debating how to progress in the wake of the Treaty’s collapse. Britain, France and Germany are keen to somehow ratify the treaty through backdoor legal means. France takes over the EU Presidency on July 1st and President Sarkozy will now need all his diplomatic skills to paper over the cracks that are appearing in Euroland.

France’s foreign minister Bernard Kouchner warned Ireland last Monday that it would be a bad idea to vote no. He said: “We would not be able to count on the Irish who counted a lot on Europe’s money.” He was referring to the millions of Euros the EU has given Ireland to turn it into a booming economy. There will now be considerable pressure on Dublin to find a workable solution that will allow the reforms to go ahead.